Ocula Report ‘An Opera for Animals’ at Rockbund Art Museum 19 Jul 2019 : Penny Liu for Ocula An Opera for Animals was first staged at Para Site in Hong Kong between 23 March and 2 June 2019, with works by over 48 artists and collectives that use opera as a metaphor for modes of contemporary, cross-disciplinary art-making. The exhibition's second iteration takes up a large portion of the Rockbund Art Museum (RAM) in Shanghai (22 June–25...
Ocula Conversation Mandy El-Sayegh: Productive Ambiguity Moving across installation, painting, drawing, and writing, Malaysia-born and London-based artist Mandy El-Sayegh explores the political, social, and economic complexities of humanity, using a mosaic of information—from advertising slogans and pornographic imagery to newspaper articles—that she subjects to processes of layering,...
Ocula Report Get Up, Stand Up Now: Generations of Black Creative Pioneers at Somerset House 5 Jul 2019 : Jareh Das for Ocula Get Up Stand Up Now: Generations of Black Creative Pioneers at Somerset House in London (12 June–15 September 2019) surveys more than half a century of black creativity in Britain and beyond across the fields of art, film, photography, music, design, fashion, and literature.Curated by Zak Ové, works by approximately 100 intergenerational black...
Ocula Photolog Sydney Contemporary 2018 14 September 2018 'With a thriving contemporary art scene, Sydney is a dynamic cultural destination with an international reputation for presenting the very best in visual art through its leading commercial galleries, public institutions, private museums, festivals and Biennale. Defined by the vibrancy of its host city, Sydney Contemporary provides collectors,...
Ocula Report Independent Growth: Art Dubai 2018 31 Mar 2018 : Mohammad Salemy for Ocula It is far too easy to dismiss art fairs, if not the entire commercial art market. By the same token, it is easy to be turned off by Dubai, the most glitzy and commercial of the UAE's emirates. It might take a little longer to appreciate how an art fair staged in a free port like this could benefit artistic production and development—an...
Ocula Photolog Art Dubai 2018 26 March 2018 'The 2018 edition of the fair presents an intimate and diverse line-up of 105 galleries from 48 countries, making this year's edition the fair's largest and most globally diverse to date. Alongside 77 returning galleries, the fair welcomes 28 first-time exhibitors from around the world.' –Art Dubai (21–24 March 2018).
Ocula Report All in one place: Art Dubai 2017 24 Mar 2017 : Stephanie Bailey for Ocula This year's edition of Art Dubai (15–18 March 2017)—the most global to date with 94 galleries from 43 countries—was a game changer. At least, that's what it felt like in the Abraaj Group lounge on Thursday night, when top Abraaj Group executives sang Don McLean's 'American Pie' on a small stage with resident Art Dubai enigma, Barry, on...
Ocula Conversation Peter Atkins Artist, Australia Australian artist Peter Atkins was one of 7 artists invited to create new site-specific public art works for the forthcoming Christchurch Biennial, SCAPE8: New Intimacies, curated by Rob Garrett.An important figure in Australian contemporary art, Peter Atkins has exhibited extensively both in Australia and internationally and is...
Ocula Conversation Barry Keldoulis Director, Melbourne Art Fair Barry Keldoulis has more than three decades experience in the world of contemporary art. Keldoulis started his career in New York where he worked as private secretary and chief of staff for Henry Geldzahler, Commissioner of Cultural Affairs for the City of New York, and the first curator of 20th century art at the Metropolitan Museum of...
Ocula Conversation Martin Browne Founder, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney Following a very early foray into diplomacy and trading futures, Martin Browne returned to the business of art and now some twenty-five plus years later he runs the very successful and well respected Sydney gallery, Martin Browne Contemporary. In The Art Life’s inaugural list of the fifty most powerful people in the Australian art...
